Hog Kid Gets Swiftboated ... We Suppose It Was Inevitable

The legend of Hogzilla II ... was it all a hoax? Did 11-year-old Jamison Stone really down a 1,000-pound feral pig in the Alabama woods, or was he home watching The Andy Griffith Show that day? As a couple of commenters pointed out yesterday, the size of said pig may have been via Photoshop. And in the finest tradition of blogs digging for the real story where the corporate media fears to tread, stinkyjournalism.org is making the same claim: That the giant pig photo we've all been marveling at over the past couple of days could end up being a fake.

At Art Science Research Lab, we are responsible for the publication of several media ethics blogs, checkyourfacts.org and stinkyjournalism.org. Earlier today, we published our analysis of this story and photograph, which ran on the AP, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and CNN. These photos are obvious fakes, as our in-house photo experts and an NYU physicist attest. The boy and his father were scheduled to appear on NBC's Today Show today, until we exposed the hoax and presented our evidence to NBC. For the full story, check out www.stinkyjournalism.org

We haven't been able to get onto the stinkyjournalism site so far this morning, by the way; the above came from a message board. Hmm, maybe the stinkyjournalism site is the fake, and the hog is real. As with all giant pig stories, the real answers remain shrouded in mystery. The folks at Monster Pig have posted their response to the Stinky Journalism "expose." At this point, what matters what is real? The kid still can bag himself some pork.

Photo Of Monster Hog Called Into Question; Web Site Claims It Was Doctored [Fox News] The Monster Hog: Too Glorious To Be True, Says Hoax-Seekers [Media Bistro] Of Hogs And Men [Deadspin]